Understanding ancient moose populations in the Rocky Mountains: the historic and archaeological evidence

Although moose have become an iconic symbol of contemporary Rocky Mountain ecosystems, their growing abundance in Colorado and the southern Rockies has inspired renewed interest in understanding their regional prehistory. Pleistocene and early Holocene mammal communities in North America included both the elk-moose (Cervalces) and the newly-dispersed Eurasian moose (Alces), which are challenging to differentiate and whose biogeographic history is poorly understood. Even in areas where moose are well-established today, they are often poorly represented in archaeological assemblages, an issue compounded by logistical obstacles to their zooarchaeological and biomolecular identification. Nonetheless, a careful review of historical archives (newspapers, photos), ethnohistoric sources, and archaeological publications demonstrate a clear record for premodern moose presence in Colorado and the southern Rockies. As rising populations influence contemporary conservation and management choices, a careful interdisciplinary approach to reconstructing prehistoric moose biogeography (that includes paleontology, archaeozoology, biomolecular science, and Indigenous perspectives) is a pressing task for informed decision-making across public and private lands.